


Swan Queen Week 2015

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [29]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Best Friend Romance, Dark One Emma, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Jealousy, Seven Minutes In Heaven, Sharing a Bed, Swan Queen Week 2015, Teenagers, Time Travel, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-08 23:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4324299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 1: Bed Sharing<br/>Day 2: Jealousy<br/>Day 3: Time Travel<br/>Day 4: Mistaken for a Couple<br/>Day 5: Best Friend Romance<br/>Day 6: Act of True Love<br/>Day 7: Trapped Together</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chase My Dreams Away

**Author's Note:**

> Operation: Swan Queen Week is a go!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I loved her. I still love her, though I curse her in my sleep, so nearly one are love and hate."
> 
> -Edgar Rice Burroughs

Regina doesn’t like keeping the dagger in her bedroom. But it’s the only place where she can be sure it won’t be stolen. Her grip on the handle turns her knuckles white as she whispers to the empty room. “Dark One.” Her voice breaks, but she forces herself to continue. “I summon thee.”

She waits a moment, but nothing happens. With a heavy sigh, she places the dagger back in its heavily protected spot in her closet. The room is eerily quiet as she lies back down in the bed that once held a bumbling blonde and a mayor in love and now holds nothing but too-clean sheets and a brokenhearted former queen.

“Good night, Emma,” she whispers to the pillow beside her. It gives no reply.

Sometime in the night she wakes up from a nightmare, only to feel strong arms encircling her waist and a tumble of blonde hair cascading down the pillow behind her head. She holds her breath. “Emma?” she breathes. But there’s no answer. Only soft, even breathing from the person in her bed and a sense of utter safety she hasn’t felt since they lost Emma to the darkness.

When Regina wakes up Emma’s gone. For a moment she’s unsure it even happened. But the blankets have been disrupted on Emma’s side of the bed, and there’s a clear imprint of a body in the mattress. Regina throws on a robe and hurries downstairs. Emma must be making breakfast, just like she always does on Saturday mornings, but when she gets to the kitchen the only thing that greets her is the cold, hard stare of stainless steel appliances.

It happens every night from then on. Regina goes to bed alone, but wakes up around midnight with Emma lying beside her, holding her in a firm yet gentle grip. She looks utterly peaceful like this, all traces of darkness undetectable in the subtle flutter of her eyelids and wiggling of her nose as she sleeps on.

“I love you,” Regina whispers. She’s not sure if she wants Emma to hear or not.

Emma doesn’t wake up, but there’s the slightest twitch at the corner of her lips that suggests the bright grin she always wore before.

It’s enough for Regina. She turns and tucks herself into Emma’s arms. These nights are enough to give her hope for their future. They’ll find a way for Emma, her and the Charmings and even Captain Guyliner. They’ll find a way.

“I love you,” she repeats. After a moment of fighting it, she falls asleep with a smile on her face.


	2. The Way He Looks at Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies."
> 
> -Elizabeth Bowen

Regina’s heart feels like it’s going to break in half the way it’s twisting in her chest. “Be good for Miss Swan,” she says with her hand gently cupping Henry’s chin. She’s surprised her voice doesn’t crack. She feels like she might. “I’ll see you at home for dinner.”

“Okay.”

That’s how it’s been lately. One-word responses and glares thrown when he thinks she isn’t looking. Not a single day goes by when she doesn’t consider that maybe she should have just been honest with him from the start.

The doorbell rings and Henry instantly brightens. “That’s her!” he exclaims.

How he doesn’t see what that does to her she’ll never know. Indeed, when Regina opens the door, Emma is standing on her front porch, hands stuffed in her back pockets as she shifts her weight from foot to foot. That, maybe, is what she’ll never understand. This woman is nothing like what Regina’s built up in her head. She’s not remarkably intelligent or a tough prison thug or insanely attractive. She simply… is.

There’s so much Regina wants to say to her. _How dare you come into my town. How dare you try to break my curse. How_ dare _you take my son away from me_. “Have him home by five-thirty,” is all that escapes her lips.

“Right. Um, thanks for letting me hang out with him. I know you weren’t too happy when I came to town.”

“That’s an understatement.”

Emma bites her lip as though biting back a sarcastic response, and Regina almost wants to dare her to say it. She’ll take any reason to hate this woman. It’s much better than the alternative. “I know this must have been hard for you, so… thanks. I mean it.” She holds out a hand for Regina to shake.

Regina swallows her pride along with her sour attitude, plastering on that mayoral smile as though she isn’t holding back tears at that very moment, and takes Emma’s hand. “I hope the two of you have fun.”

Before Emma can reply, Henry comes racing down the hallway with his backpack on, throwing his arms around Emma with the kind of wide grin Regina hasn’t been met with in at least two years. It’s almost enough for her walls to come crumbling down right then and there. “Where are we going?” he asks, voice light and happy and containing nothing of the anger Regina’s heard recently lurking in its depths.

“I was thinking we’d hit Granny’s for lunch and then get ice cream on the pier. If that’s okay with your mom,” Emma adds hurriedly, casting a wary glance toward Regina.

“As long as he’s home on time.”

“Thanks.” Emma offers the briefest flicker of a smile before taking Henry’s hand and leading him down the front walk to her car. Only when the car is out of sight and the front door closes behind her does Regina let herself shrink.

She hates crying. It makes her feel like a child, wiping her runny nose on the sleeve of her dress. Not that she ever did that. Mother would have a fit. But now, alone in a house much too big for her and a son who may or may not love her, she finds herself leaning against the wall and burying her face in trembling hands. She may as well just let Henry stay with Emma. Because in the end, she will always be left with nothing. Because Emma Swan will always be everything she isn’t. Because good always beats evil.

And she will never be anything more than a villain.


	3. Smoke and Mirrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Look back, and smile on perils past."
> 
> -Walter Scott

There are two Emmas in Storybrooke. The first one is the Savior. The second one came to town late one night, much younger than her present self, wearing a tight ponytail and a leather jacket two sizes too big.

“Who is she?” Regina murmurs as she and the current Emma stare at the young girl looking around Main Street with a furrowed brow. The girl reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one and taking a puff with a cough.

“She’s me,” Emma whispers. “She’s fifteen.”

“How can you tell?”

“She still coughs when she smokes.”

“Oh.” Regina takes Emma’s hand and squeezes. “How did she get here?”

“That portal behind her might have something to do with it.” Emma takes a step forward. “I’m gonna talk to her.” Without waiting for Regina to reply, she approaches the girl in the street. “Those’ll kill you, you know,” she says to the teenager.

Young Emma scowls at her. “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?”

The way Emma figures it, she’d remember going forward in time fifteen years. She doesn’t, so Young Emma must not remember this event. She can say anything. “I’m you. Fifteen years later.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Young Emma takes another drag from her cigarette and releases it without so much as a gag.

Emma winces. This girl is farther gone than she thought. “You’ve got a scar on your collarbone from when you were nine and got beat up by your foster brother, but you tell everyone it’s from falling off of your bike.”

Young Emma narrows her eyes. “How do you know that?”

Emma pulls down the collar of her shirt just enough to reveal the scar on her own collarbone.

“Holy shit.”

“Yep.” Emma snatches the cigarette from Young Emma’s mouth. “Now put that out. I don’t want lung cancer because you decided to be an idiot.”

“You don’t smoke?”

“Quit last year.” Emma lets herself be just a little bit proud. “And wear your glasses. You’re not doing yourself any favors running into shit just to look cool.”

“You don’t wear yours.”

“Contacts.”

“Whatever.”

“Come on.” Emma takes Young Emma’s arm. “I want you to meet someone.” And she drags her younger self over to where Regina stands because even if Young Emma is going to forget everything that transpires in this town, Emma’s damn well going to give her a dose of hope before that happens. “This is Regina.”

Young Emma smirks. “Nice work.”

“Excuse me?” Regina cuts in.

“She’s your girlfriend, right?” Young Emma turns to Emma. “I’m gonna hate you forever if you’re not tapping that.”

Emma smacks Young Emma on the arm. “Jesus Christ, you have, like, negative manners.”

“Whatever.”

“But since you asked,” Regina says softly. “We are together.”

“ _Nice_.” Young Emma holds up her hand for a high five, which Emma doesn’t deliver.

“Let’s talk,” she says instead. She presses a quick kiss to Regina’s lips before leading Young Emma over to a table in front of Granny’s. “Look, I wanted you to meet Regina for a reason. I know what’s happening in your life right now.”

Young Emma sobers quickly. Her eyes fall into her lap and every last bit of armor falls immediately to reveal a tiny, broken girl sitting at a metal table.

“You just got pulled from your third home this year, you had to move across the country from your boyfriend, you’re in the middle of some weird sexuality crisis or whatever, and you don’t know where you belong.”

“I guess you know me pretty well,” Young Emma grumbles.

Emma smirks briefly. “I want you to know what’s happening in _my_ life. The life _you’re_ gonna have pretty soon.”

Young Emma looks up with wide eyes. “Is your life good?”

“It’s pretty awesome. I came here a year ago. My son brought me here.”

“You have a son?”

Emma gives her younger self a sad smile. “You’ll have him when you’re eighteen. And you’re gonna give him up for adoption.”

“ _What_?” Young Emma exclaims. “No, I would never do that.”

“I was in _jail_. It’s not like I could take care of him. There was a woman in Maine who was interested in adopting him, and she was pretty well off and lived in a good town, and it made me realize that his best chance wasn’t with me. At least, not then.”

“So how do you have him now?”

“He came and found me when he was ten and brought me here. He and his mom were having issues. You know who his mom is?” Emma smiles, more to herself than to Young Emma. “Regina.”

“Seriously?” Young Emma raises one eyebrow. “So you guys had a kid together before you started dating?”

“We fought for a long time before we realized we work better together. That’s about the time we got together.”

“That’s… that’s actually really awesome. It sounds nice.”

“It is nice. And you know, I also found my parents here.”

Young Emma nearly stands up from her seat. “Seriously? Can I meet them?”

“No.” Emma sighs. “You’re still idealizing them. They’re not what you wanted. You’re gonna love them, though, when you’re my age.”

Young Emma rests her head in her hands. “How come I can’t just skip over right now and go straight to being you?”

“Because if you don’t go through all the pain you’re gonna go through then I won’t exist. And you’ll never be me.” Emma takes Young Emma’s hand. “You’ve got a happy ending coming. You just gotta get through the middle of the story first.”

“Thanks.” Young Emma smiles. “I just have one more question. How the hell did I get here?”

Emma laughs out loud. “Magic. Believe it or not.”

“I believe it. I always have.”

“I know.” Emma smiles and squeezes her hand. “Come on, let’s get you back to where you belong.”

The portal is still there on Main Street, but Emma catches Young Emma’s arm before she goes into it. “Look, I gotta tell you. You’re not gonna remember this.”

“I’m not?” Young Emma’s voice sounds so small, so desperately sad that Emma wants to keep her here forever. “I don’t wanna go back to my life without knowing I’m coming here soon.”

“I know. Take this with you. It’ll be a reminder.” Emma gets a scrap of paper and pen with a cloud of newfound magic and scribbles a note for her younger self.

Young Emma smiles. “’Your happy ending is coming. Stay strong’,” she reads aloud. She tucks the note into her jacket pocket. “Thank you.”

“Good luck out there, kiddo.”

“Oh, one more thing.” Young Emma throws her arms around Emma and buries her face in her shoulder. “Tell Regina I say thanks.” With that, she jumps into the portal, and it closes itself behind her. Emma wipes at tears she didn’t notice filling her eyes before. It’s hard to let that girl go, knowing what’s coming toward her, but if there’s one thing she’s learned in this town it’s that you can’t protect yourself from pain. So she turns away from the portal with her hands in her pockets and walks back toward Regina.

A half-empty pack of cigarettes lays on the ground behind her.


	4. A Collision of Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye."
> 
> H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“…and onion rings?” Ruby finishes Emma’s order with a wide smile. “You’re never gonna get anything else, are you?”

“Why should I?”

“You know we’ve got a whole menu you’ve never experienced, right?”

Emma smirks. “I’m good with grilled cheese. It’s comfort food.”

“Whatever you say, Em.”

“Hey, Ruby, I’ve been meaning to ask – is it cool if I bring Regina to your party this weekend?”

Ruby arches an eyebrow. “You guys are finally going public?”

“What?”

“With your relationship?"

Emma can’t help herself, she laughs out loud. “Our _relationship_?”

Ruby frowns. “You guys aren’t dating?”

“No!”

“But you like her.”

Emma doesn’t answer that one. Instead, she bites her lip, glancing toward the wall of the diner.

“I knew it.” Ruby smiles smugly as she leans forward on her elbows across the counter. “It’s the way you look at her.”

“Yeah? How’s that?”

“Like… like she invented the moon and the stars just so you’d have something to look at at night.”

“Wow.” Emma smiles. “That’s pretty poetic.”

“Believe it or not, I have a lot of free time.” Ruby grins. “She likes you, too. I can tell.”

“How?”

“The mayor has this mask she puts on when she’s talking to people. You can’t see anything she’s feeling.” Ruby taps her fingernail absently on the counter as she continues, voice quirt and solemn. “But every so often, when she thinks no one’s looking, it drops, and you can see everything. I’ve learned over the years: when everyone is looking at something else, look at the mayor.”

Emma’s caught up in the story enough to forget about everything else but Regina and Regina’s smile and Regina’s eyes. “What do you see when you do that?”

“The way _she_ looks at _you_. Like you’re a slice of the sun that’s been cut out and delivered to her doorstep to make her life just a little bit brighter.”

“Oh.” There are a lot of thoughts in Emma’s head, but one takes to the forefront. “She really likes me?”

“Yes, you idiot. Ask her out!”

Emma chews on her lip, deep in thought. “I might actually,” she muses.

“ _Good_. Here’s your food.” Ruby drops a takeout bag in front of her. “And to answer your question, yes. Regina can come to my party.”

“Thanks, Rubes.” Emma takes the food and heads out to her car. But, instead of driving home, she finds herself parking in front of the mansion on Mifflin Street. The air seems thin as she takes the long walk up to the front door and knocks three times. She breathes. In, out, in, out, preparing for what’s to come. “Hey,” she says when the door opens.

Regina raises her eyebrows. “Emma. Henry’s not here.”

“I actually came to ask you something.” Emma gestures to the inside of the house. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Regina steps aside to allow Emma into her home. “What’s going on?”

“So Ruby’s birthday is this weekend, and she’s having a big party over at Granny’s. I thought maybe you’d want to come.”

Regina frowns. “You thought I’d be interested in watching our town’s only werewolf slam down drinks on her twenty-first birthday.”

“I thought maybe you’d want to come with _me_.” Emma sighs heavily. “As my date.”

She sees it then, the look Ruby talks about. Regina’s eyes widen ever so slightly, and her lips part just enough for Emma to hear the soft intake of breath. And she’s staring, like Emma’s her favorite story and she’s just learned there’s a new chapter. “I like you,” Emma says. “And I think you like me, too.”

“We’re complete opposites,” Regina whispers. “A relationship between us would be much too volatile.”

“Yeah, we’re pretty opposite. But we’re also kind of the same.” Emma catches Regina’s hand, rolling slender fingers between her own. “Like the moon and the sun. And I’m no astronomy expert, but I’m pretty sure something really cool would happen if the moon and the sun got together.”

“Like what?”

“Something like a supernova. Only a million times bigger.”

“That does sound pretty amazing.” Regina sucks her bottom lip between her teeth and worries it a bit. “So about this party,” she murmurs, cracking a tiny smile. “What should I wear?”


	5. Set My Heart Alight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Love is friendship that has caught fire."
> 
> -Ann Landers

“ _Titanic_?” Regina wrinkles her nose. “I’m not in the mood to cry tonight.”

Emma frowns and puts the DVD back in the box. “What about _27 Dresses_?”

“Another romantic comedy with a forced romance between two straight white people?” Regina scoffs. “Please.”

“You’re a tough nut to crack. But I know something you’re always in the mood for.” Emma shoves the DVD box back under the couch and opens the cabinet of special movies they save for nights like these. “ _Imagine Me and You_?”

Regina grins. “Now you’re talking.”

Emma pops the disc into the player and settles onto the couch beside her roommate, reaching over to steal some popcorn as the opening credits roll. They’ve seen this movie at least a hundred times, yet somehow manage never to get sick of it. By now, Emma doesn’t even have to watch the screen to know what’s going on.

Instead, she watches Regina.

It was only recently that Emma realized – or stumbled upon – her feelings for Regina, but now that she has, they’re all she can think about. How Regina’s nose is just slightly freckled, how her full lips have that little scar over the top, how her eyes light up when she gets excited. This crush goes way deeper than she ever thought she could feel, and yet, it feels right. Of all the people to fall too in love with, she’s glad it’s Regina.

Emma bites her lip as she realizes she’s been staring too long. Even still, she can’t quite bring herself to tear her gaze away. “Regina?” she whispers, immediately regretting it.

Regina turns to face her, lips slightly parted. She looks like she’s about to say something, but stops as her eyes take in Emma’s face. “Are you okay?”

“I think I love you.” Why Emma’s mouth won’t listen to her mind she doesn’t know, but it’s pretty annoying.

Regina frowns. “You think?” She tilts her head just slightly. “Do you or don’t you?”

“I do.” Emma sighs. “It’s weird. Just – pretend I never said anything. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Slowly, giving Emma plenty of time to worry about the smell of her breath, Regina leans forward and kisses her. “You picked a great movie,” she murmurs against Emma’s lips.

Emma grins into the kiss. “You picked a great roommate.”

“Yes, I did.”

Emma pulls away, fingers tapping anxiously against her leg. “Is this gonna mess everything up? We had a good thing going here.”

Regina sighs. “Emma, you’re more important to me than most things. I’m not going to lose you, even if we break up. Okay?”

Emma grins. “Okay.” And then she kisses her again.


	6. Not the End, But Happy Nevertheless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen."
> 
> -Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Emma’s throat is constricting around everything she wants to say as she bursts through the front doors of the hospital. “Is she okay? I want to see her,” she demands breathlessly of the nurse in the waiting room. At this point, the whispers about the Savior and the Evil Queen have spread around the entire town, and the nurse knows exactly who Emma means.

The woman nods. “Follow me.” She leads Emma down a long hallway, stopping to open a door and reveal Regina lying in a white bed in a white room.

“’Gina.” Emma runs forward to pull Regina into a tight embrace. “God, you scared the shit out of me.”

“You worry too much. I’m fine.”

“All they told me was that you’d been in an accident. Forgive me for being worried.”

Regina raises one eyebrow as Emma pulls herself away. “You know me better than that. I have magic fingers, remember?” She wiggles her fingers in the air for emphasis, the other eyebrow moving up her face to join the first.

“Oh, yeah. I remember.” Emma pulls the plastic chair closer to the bed and sits down. The box is a heavy weight in her pocket. It’s taunting her, calling to her that her parents were right, that this is her chance, that this could be her best chance. “Hey, I brought you something.”

“You thought I was dying, and yet you stopped to get me a gift?”

Emma rolls her eyes. “I got it before I knew you were here, idiot.”

“I thought we agreed that you were the idiot.”

“You can be pretty idiotic sometimes.”

“True. But I’m lying in a hospital bed, so you have to be nice to me.”

Emma grins around her churning nerves. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Close your eyes.” Once Regina’s eyes fall shut, Emma slowly reaches into her pocket and slides the box gently into Regina’s lap.

Regina opens her eyes, and her jaw clenches when she catches sight of the box in her lap. “Emma, you know I don’t want to get married. I’m not going to be in a relationship enforced by law.”

“We don’t have to get married.” Emma stands up and takes Regina’s hand, squeezing and willing her to understand. “I just want us to be together forever. I want to be able to call you my wife.” She leans forward and kisses Regina’s cheek. “We’ll be married in our hearts.”

“I don’t know…”

“At least look at it.” Emma gently opens the box, revealing the silver band with its small green gemstone. “It’s the ring my dad gave to my mom. They say it glows brighter the closer you are to your true love, but considering we both already had and lost that, I figure it’ll still look nice on you.”

Regina’s eyes are wide when she turns to look at Emma. “Are you sure about this?”

“There’s not a lot in life I’m really confident in, but I have no doubts when it comes to you. I’m gonna love you for the rest of my life, if you’ll give me the chance.”

“Okay.” Slowly, with a hand shaking just slightly, Regina slips the ring onto her finger, admiring how it glints in the fluorescent light. And then, something amazing happens.

The ring begins to glow.

It’s faint at first, enough that they both question if they really saw it, but after a moment it increases until it’s absolutely blinding. Regina cups her hand over the ring to stifle the glow. “Will it do that all the time?”

Emma laughs. It’s all she can do, because the only other option would be to freak out, go crazy trying to figure out how Regina can be her true love when it was Neal, it was the eighteen-year-old boy that stole her heart along with everything else. “I hope not. You’ll go blind.”

“Can’t have that, can we? How will I appreciate the way you look in leather?”

“Come here.” Instead of freaking out, Emma leans down and pulls Regina into a kiss. And, just like always, all other thoughts melt away even as she melts into Regina. She’s never felt as at home with anyone as she does with Regina, not even the boy who _was_ her home for almost three years. And that’s what decides it, for her at least.

Their love is, and always will be, absolutely true.


	7. I Always Have to Steal My Kisses from You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."
> 
> -Ingrid Berman

Emma rolls her eyes as the bottle falls to rest pointing in her direction yet again. She swears this thing is rigged or something. On the second spin it points to a girl she doesn’t know, and whose name she keeps forgetting.

“Get in there,” Ruby says with a smirk. “We’ll come get you when seven minutes is up.”

And so Emma and a complete stranger enter the dark closet together, the door falling shut behind them.

“I’m not kissing you,” the girl says as soon as they’re alone.

“Oh, thank god.”

“Excuse me?”

“This game is stupid,” Emma explains. “I don’t even know you.”

“Oh.” She smiles. “I’m Regina.”

“Emma.”

“So. If we’re not going to kiss, what are we going to do?”

Emma smirks wickedly. “We’re gonna put on a show.” She pulls out her phone, entering a few searches until she finds what she’s looking for. “Lesbian porn,” she says with a grin. The volume is all the way up, and the sounds of guttural moans from the actresses fill the closet and leak into the room outside.

Regina’s eyebrows fly halfway up her forehead. “You are evil,” she hisses with just the barest hint of a smile.

“Come here.” Emma reaches out to gently cup Regina’s chin in a play of delicacy, before moving to her mouth to smear her lipstick with the heel of her hand. The remnants on her palm she spreads on her own lips, as though it had been transferred in a particularly passionate kiss. “One more thing.”

Regina frowns. “What else could you possibly need?”

Instead of answering, Emma pulls her shirt over her head, fitting it back onto her body inside out. “Undo the first few buttons on yours,” she says, swallowing her desire when Regina complies.

“We’ve got about five minutes left,” Regina comments once they’re sufficiently roughed up. “What do you want to do?”

Emma shrugs. “What’s your favorite movie?”

Regina looks surprised for a moment, but she recovers quickly. “I like _The Breakfast Club_.”

“Me too.”

“I always cry at the part where they’re talking about why they’re there. It always made me feel-”

“Like maybe I’m not the only one with a fucked up life,” Emma murmurs. “Me, too.”

Regina smiles. She reaches forward and takes Emma’s hand with a comforting squeeze. “You’re not the only one.” Her voice is small, her face soft and vulnerable like Emma’s never seen anyone before.

Emma clears her throat. “Thanks.” After a long moment, she draws her hand back into her lap. “So, how do you know Ruby?”

“Chemistry. We’re lab partners. What about you?”

“We got drunk and made out once.” Emma laughs. “Turned into a pretty good friendship, though.”

Regina smirks. “She does throw some wild parties, doesn’t she?”

“This one’s tame compared to her usual.”

“Maybe I’ll sit the next one out.”

“I’m thinking I might, too.”

There’s a pause in the conversation, and the silence is filled with the fake moans from the woman on Emma’s phone. “You think they’re worried about what we’re doing in here?” Emma asks after a long time.

Regina laughs out loud. “I hope so. Maybe she’ll think twice about Seven Minutes in Heaven at her next party.”

“I’m pretty sure she only plays this on the off chance she ends up in here with Lacey.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Ruby’s had a thing for her since, like, freshman year.”

“Wow.” Regina tilts her head. “I could see them together.”

Emma grins. “I keep telling her to just ask her out. Ruby’s not really that type, I guess.”

“No, she isn’t.”

Before they can say anything else, there’s a knock at the door. Emma quickly puts her phone to sleep, effectively cutting off the sounds emitting from it. “Time’s up,” Ruby’s voice calls from outside. “Um… finish up, I guess.”

Emma bites her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. “They totally think we fucked.”

Regina grins. “It was quite a performance.”

They exit the room, Emma drinking in the shocked stares at their disheveled state. No one else goes into the closet after that, and the game ends. The party doesn’t last much longer after that; Emma’s walking out to her car less than an hour later. She’s just unlocking the door when she feels a hand on her shoulder, and she turns to see Regina standing behind her.

Regina doesn’t say anything. Instead, she stands up on her toes to press her lips to Emma’s, letting her eyes flutter shut as she kisses her. It’s soft and chaste and only lasts for a moment before they break apart.

“I thought you weren’t gonna kiss me,” Emma says with a smirk.

“I can make exceptions.” Regina reaches into her pocket and hands Emma a small scrap of paper with a phone number written on it, smiling slightly. “Call me.” And then she’s gone, running off to her own car down the street.

Emma grins after her. She tucks the paper into her jacket pocket and gets into her car with lips still tingling. Slowly, she pulls into the street, making herself a promise to call Regina the very next day. She’s only got one thought in her mind as she turns onto the highway.

Today’s been a very good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus concludes the fifth annual Swan Queen Week, and begins my 17th birthday :D


End file.
